The Song Remembers When
by Esther-Channah
Summary: Dinah reflects on her past with Ollie, and on what the future may hold. Contains spoilers for GA/BC No. 5


Disclaimer: They aren't mine.

Warning: Spoilers for GA/BC #5. Dialogue by Judd Winick.

Thanks to Kathy for the beta!

**The Song Remembers When**

She's lost him so many times before and in so many ways. Emotionally, physically… they'd come together and fallen apart. She'd thought her love for him had died the day she caught him kissing Marianne. Then, Connor came to tell her the news: that he was Ollie's son… and that Ollie was dead. And amid the hurt and the sense of betrayal she had felt the aching grief that could only come with the loss of a loved one.

She'd always thought it was such a cliché. _I buried my heart when I buried him._ She used to roll her eyes at the 'clinging vine' heroines in chick flicks who uttered variations of that phrase. But days after the funeral, when she was still plodding numbly through her daily routine, she wasn't rolling her eyes any more.

Of course, she survived. She had Roy and Connor to grieve with, but it had been Babs who'd given her a new lease on life. And then, out of the blue, Ollie had come back again. And she'd discovered, to her surprise, that the old feelings weren't there. The passionate love that she'd felt had cooled to an easy affection. And nobody had been more astounded than she was.

Time was a healer, it seemed. She'd gotten over him. She'd moved on. She was chairing the Justice League. And then, life threw her another curveball, and she found herself in Star City, fighting alongside Ollie again. And all at once, the old feelings resurfaced. He'd changed. He'd grown. Or maybe she had, she didn't know. Suddenly they were headed for the altar and everything was wonderful… until he'd tried to murder her on their wedding night, of course. Oh, it had been the shapeshifter known as Everyman. Dinah had known from the start that it wasn't Ollie. But seeing the coldness, the savagery in the eyes that were so like and yet so unlike those of the man she loved…

Dinah leaned heavily against the corridor wall outside Connor's room. She hated herself for feeling the way she did now, but she had to face facts. She loved Ollie, madly, passionately, totally. But when she closed her eyes she could still see the hatred on Everyman's face. With time, maybe she could get past it, but for now… She shook herself. How could she think of walking out on him now? Connor was comatose, brain dead, his consciousness wiped so cleanly away that even Dr. Mid-Nite couldn't retrieve it. And Ollie was hanging on by a thread. He hadn't left Connor's room in weeks. She couldn't leave him. But she kept seeing the look in Everyman's eyes.

Cautiously, she pushed open the door to the room. Ollie was speaking to Connor, as though the young man on the bed was aware of what was going on.

"You live a lie so long that you believe it." He leaned forward, burying his face in the bedclothes. "It was easier for me to strike out at everyone than to admit the truth. To admit what I'd done—who I am. I'm going to make it right, Connor. From now on."

At times like this, when she was with him, when she could see him in action, it was easy to forget Everyman. This was Ollie, the man she loved. The man who was holding on by a thread, just as she once had been. "You've _been_ making it right," she protested. "You're his father. He _loves_ you."

Ollie shook his head. "It's not enough." Slowly, haltingly, with a huskiness in his voice that horrified her, he told her that he wanted to hang up the Robin Hood costume, mothball the bow, and simply _be_ there. For Connor. As he said it, Dinah knew that he meant it. It wasn't like the old days, when he'd make extravagant promises with total sincerity, and then forget them. This time, Ollie understood exactly what he was saying, what he was giving up… and he wasn't looking at it as though it was a sacrifice.

And suddenly, Everyman's subterfuge became meaningless. Dinah knew exactly what her feelings for Ollie were.

"Marry me," she said. "I want to marry you, Oliver Queen. The man. The father. The love of my life. No costumes. No big gathering. Just me and you. You and me." _Together forever._

"Still I guess some things we bury are just bound to rise again. For even if the whole world has forgotten, the song remembers when." (Hugh Prestwood)


End file.
